The betrayal Chapter 13 snippet

Sitting the book down beside her with a groan, Kate stretched out on the couch in her quarters. So far, everything had gone as smooth as expected on their cruise home. Yes, she thought to herself, it wasn’t the smoothest ride she had ever taken, but just to be able to bring her ship back was an accomplishment enough. What she wouldn’t give to see the faces of Beatty and company when they arrived after their best efforts to destroy them.

That would be worth the price of admission, Kate thought with a chuckle.

Turning her attention back to the ancient book she held in her hands, she let herself forget the troubles brewing around them. While the book itself was old, the plot and the story was more then enough to enthrall her attention. Edgar Allen Poe was the name of the author she was reading, and she found his gothic horror stories to be an entertaining read. Especially, she thought with a chuckle, when the horrors of the world around you more then matched his writing!

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,” Kate mumbled as she settled down into the poem.

The Raven was a poem that fit her mood perfectly, she thought as she read through it. Somehow, she thought, the story was fitting for the world around them. Here you had one lonely man reading until the Raven came along to ultimately take him into his madness.
Unfortunately, she reminded herself again, Reyes was the man who had taken her into the mouth of madness.

Interrupting her train of thought, the chime on her door rang for her attention. She stretched like a cat as she reached for the com button at the head of the couch. Who would be coming by her quarters this late in the evening, she wondered. It was nearly 2330 hours for Christ sake!

“Come,”

The door slid aside with a swoosh sound to allow Loving to enter. A lopsided grin formed on Kate’s face as she placed her book on a table at the head of the couch. With a slow move, Kate moved herself back to a sitting position as her friend approached. To be coming to see her this late at night, Kate thought, something had to be on her mind.

“Mind if I drop by?” she asked.

“Isn’t it past your bedtime, Jennifer?”

“I could say the same thing to you, Kate,”

Loving said as she noticed the book Kate was reading. An eyebrow rose in surprise as she sat down across from Kate. “The complete works of Edgar Allen Poe…feeling a bit gothic today?”

“I don’t know,” Kate said. “It doesn’t seem to be inappropriate.”

“I could see how you would feel that way,”

“You know Jennifer,” Kate said. “I love seeing you when you come by. However, at nearly midnight, there had to be something that made you want to see me.”